财政分权对中国环境污染影响程度的实证分析

财政分权体现了中央政府和地方政府间的财政权力分配关系,它可以通过支出分权度和收入分权度两个指标进行衡量。从理论上分析,大多数研究结论都认为财政分权与污染量排放存在负激励,但是缺乏相应的实证研究。本文利用1998年到2009年的省级面板数据,对中国财政分权与污染物排放规模之间的关系进行了实证分析。本文选取工业废气排放量、工业固体废弃物排放量、工业废水排放量和二氧化硫排放量作为衡量污染物排放规模的指标,选择支出分权度与收入分权度作为解释变量,选择人均GDP、人口密度、城市化水平、外商投资总额、工业化水平作为控制变量。本文还将所有省份按照地理位置划分为东部和中西部两组进行稳健性检验。研究结果表明:以支出分权度衡量的财政分权指标与污染物排放规模负相关,且实证结果具有稳健性,以收入分权度衡量的财政分权指标与污染物排放规模的关系从实证的角度来讲不确定。

An Empirical Analysis on the Impact of Fiscal Decentralization on Environmental Pollution in China

Fiscal decentralization reflects the distribution financial power between the central government and local government.It can be measured through the two indicators which are expenditure decentralization and revenue decentralization.From the theoretical analysis,most studies have concluded that there is a negative incentive between the fiscal decentralization and the amount of pollutant discharge,but lacks the empirical research.Utilizing the provincial panel data from 1998 to 2009,this paper carried on the empirical analysis about the relationship between China’s fiscal decentralization and the scale of pollutant discharge.The industrial waste gas discharge amount,industrial solid wastes discharge amount,industrial waste water discharge amount and sulfur dioxide discharge amount were selected as the indicators to measure the scale of pollutant discharge in the paper.The paper selected the expenditure decentralization degree and revenue decentralization degree as explanatory variables,and selected the per capita GDP,population density,urbanization level,total foreign investment,and the industrialization level as control variables.The paper divided all provinces into two groups(east and midwest) in accordance with their geographic location to carry out robustness test.The results showed that the fiscal decentralization indicator which was measured by the expenditure decentralization degree was negatively related to the scale of pollutant discharge.And the empirical results were of robustness.The relationship between the fiscal decentralization indicator which was measured by revenue decentralization degree and the scale of pollutant discharge was uncertain from the empirical point.